December 28, 2012

America’s Most Controversial Pols…and Their MoJo Covers

When it comes to our covers, we draw it like we see it.


By the time a politician appears on the cover of Mother Jones, our readers are if anything all-too-familiar with them; it’s our job to present them to you in ways that are surprising, enlightening, and hopefully apt. Over the years the rogue’s gallery of baby-kissers has included a confident-looking Ronald Reagan, a badly-beaten Bill Clinton, and a Hillary cover which didn’t actually depict the then-presidential candidate. Take a look and see whether we’ve included your favorite.

Jerry Brown, July 1976: This headline-free cover represents the young Mother Jones‘ feeling that despite his “symbolic words and phrases,” Jerry Brown, the then- (as well as now-) governor of California who was running in the 1976 Democratic presidential primaries, talked a much more progressive game than he walked. To create this image in pre-Photoshop days, the artist cut into his painting of Brown to reveal a second painting of Dwight D. Eisenhower underneath. The whole thing was then photographed.

Art Director: Louise Kollenbaum; Illustrator: Dugald Stermer

 

Ronald Reagan, September/October 1980: This cover of a wily Reagan accompanied a story called “President Reagan’s First Four Years,” written before the election that brought him to the Oval Office. Editor Jeffrey Klein followed the future President on the campaign trail and interviewed Reagan appointees, advisers, and foes to report, all too accurately as it turned out, what the next four years would bring.

Art Director: Louise Kollenbaum; Illustrator: Robert Grossman

 

Newt Gingrich, October 1989: Not so subtle, this one! By 1989, Gingrich had become “not only the second most powerful Republican in the House but its self-styled ethics czar as well,” according to the cover story, which recounted how he helped bring down the Democratic Speaker of the House Jim Wright with an inquiry into his speaking fees and book publishing arrangements. The article pointed out that Gingrich was involved in similar lapses, and quoted former aides ready to spill the beans.

Art Director: Kerry Tremain; Illustrator: Philip Burke

 

George H. W. Bush, July/August 1991: This collage used imagery from Picasso’s Guernica to help depict the violence that Bush’s War on Drugs did to the body politic. The cover also refers to a related story on the long-term effects of the Gulf War on the people of Iraq.

Art Director: Kerry Tremain; Illustrator: Melissa Grimes

 

Bill Clinton, November/December 1994: At a time when it seemed that the Clinton administration was being overwhelmed by the defeat of health care reform and the Whitewater and Paula Jones scandals, Mother Jones presented an image of a battered President Clinton, still with his dukes up. The issue carried advice from American writers, activists, and political figures on how he could get up off the mat.

Creative Director: Kerry Tremain; Illustrator: Daniel Lee.

 

George W. Bush, February 2003: This cover rather literally suggests the consequences of Bush’s foreign policy, described inside as “Strike first. Act alone. Ignore Consequences.”
 
Design Director: Jane Palecek; Illustrator: Tim O’Brien

 

Hillary Clinton, January/February 2007: Since this think piece by Jack Hitt was about the public’s perception of Hillary, rather than the candidate herself, the cover emphasizes the article’s framing by leaving the subject off entirely.

Creative Director: Susan Scandrett; Photographer: Robert Schlatter

 

George W. Bush, September/October 2008: This issue contained a powerful portfolio of stories enumerating the failures of the Bush years and suggested how the country might move forward. The president appears as the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz, just as she’s melting. Also featured: Dick Cheney as a winged monkey, Barack Obama working surprisingly well as Dorothy, and John McCain as the Cowardly Lion (to whom the Wizard said, “You’re confusing courage with wisdom.”)

Creative Director: Tim J Luddy; Illustrator: Tim O’Brien

 

Barack Obama, January/February 2009: A suggestion that we represent newly-elected President Obama as a traditional New Year’s baby led to the late J.C. Leyendecker, who originated that meme by drawing New Year’s babies for the Saturday Evening Post from 1908 to 1943. Our illustrator presented a smart update, depicting a tightrope-walking Obama, worriedly taking his next step in front of the traditional Post circle.

Creative Director: Tim J Luddy; Illustrator: Dale Stephanos

 

Sarah Palin, November/December 2010: The planning meeting for this cover was one of those times where somebody said an idea, and the only discussion that followed was who we would ask to illustrate it. In this case the idea was “Sarah Palin as The Fifty Foot Woman” and the artist was Zina Saunders. She had done a smart series of McCain/Palin illustrations for the 2008 campaign, combining a masterly painting style (which is actually entirely digital) with a take-no-prisoners attitude. She later created an animation of the fifty-foot-Palin reaching toward the viewer, which was the genesis of the animations that she still does for Mother Jones today.
 
Creative Director: Tim J Luddy; Illustrator: Zina Saunders
 

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

—Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE ON MOTHER JONES' FINANCES

We need to start being more upfront about how hard it is keeping a newsroom like Mother Jones afloat these days.

Because it is, and because we're fresh off finishing a fiscal year, on June 30, that came up a bit short of where we needed to be. And this next one simply has to be a year of growth—particularly for donations from online readers to help counter the brutal economics of journalism right now.

Straight up: We need this pitch, what you're reading right now, to start earning significantly more donations than normal. We need people who care enough about Mother Jones’ journalism to be reading a blurb like this to decide to pitch in and support it if you can right now.

Urgent, for sure. But it's not all doom and gloom!

Because over the challenging last year, and thanks to feedback from readers, we've started to see a better way to go about asking you to support our work: Level-headedly communicating the urgency of hitting our fundraising goals, being transparent about our finances, challenges, and opportunities, and explaining how being funded primarily by donations big and small, from ordinary (and extraordinary!) people like you, is the thing that lets us do the type of journalism you look to Mother Jones for—that is so very much needed right now.

And it's really been resonating with folks! Thankfully. Because corporations, powerful people with deep pockets, and market forces will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. Only people like you will.

There's more about our finances in "News Never Pays," or "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," and we'll have details about the year ahead for you soon. But we already know this: The fundraising for our next deadline, $350,000 by the time September 30 rolls around, has to start now, and it has to be stronger than normal so that we don't fall behind and risk coming up short again.

Please consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

—Monika Bauerlein, CEO, and Brian Hiatt, Online Membership Director

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